I have my own website that has
quite an extensive collection of links for students.It’s also safe to say that link
collections are a dime a dozen on the Internet.Those of us who have them are, in many
ways, parasites (though well-meaning ones) – using the good work created by
others, even if we do give them credit.

Those who create their own online
activities, as far as I’m concerned, are in a league of their own.I don’t have a clue how they do it.I would like to share my favorite eight
sites that offer original, free, effective, creative, and fun
games for students of all ages and in all subjects.

I
Know That (http://www.iknowthat.com/com) is the one I like
best.It has science, math,
language arts, social studies, and arts games.It is primarily aimed towards elementary
students and younger, though I’ve found that high schoolers taking geography
enjoy and can benefit from the great map games found on the site.English Language Learners of all ages
would find this site useful.Many
activities have both text and audio.The graphics are exceptional, and the ads are not overwhelming or too
obnoxious.

BBC
Schools – Games (http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/games/) has the typical
high-quality activities you can expect from the BBC.The site has games for many subjects,
and they are divided into age ranges from four years old to over sixteen.Many obviously have a British flavor to
them ranging from spelling to history to the names of subjects themselves (they
don’t have “math” – they have “numeracy”) but the games are fun and the vast
majority of content has relevancy to U.S. students.

Professor Garfield (http://www.professorgarfield.org/pgf_home.html) is a
partnership between the creator of the famous cat (yes, THAT Garfield) and Ball
State University.The content
covers the usual subject areas, along with career exploration and activities
geared particularly to students with learning disabilities.The focus is on Kindergarten to Eighth
Grade.I especially like the
“Knowledge Box” section of the site, which has activities too numerous to
mention divided by grade and subject area.

PBS
Kids/Go (http://pbskids.org/go/) is a great place to go for
games geared towards pre-school, elementary, and middle-school kids.Games and activities connected to PBS
favorites like “Arthur,” “Postcards from Buster,” and “It’s My Life” can all be
found here.

Learning Vocabulary Can Be Fun
(http://www.vocabulary.co.il/) is a great site to help
students learn…….vocabulary.There
are many games, including word searches, hangman, crossword puzzles, etc. and
some also have audio.Any age range
student would find this useful, and the creator of this site also has an
excellent one specifically targeting SAT words.

Mr.
Nussbaum (http://www.mrnussbaum.com/index.html) is a site created
by a fourth grade teacher that has many creative and fun games in math, language
arts, science and social studies.It’s designed for grade 1 to 8th.

Scholastic Online (http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/#) is from the
company all teachers know.It has
online games and activities in many subjects, and, surprising to me at least, to
all grade levels including high school.

Fun
Brain (http://www.funbrain.com/) comes from Pearson
Education.It has reading, grammar,
and math games that are creative and fun.Unlike the other sites I have listed, though, it also has a fair amount
of games that are not particularly educational in nature, so a teacher would
need to be particularly careful when having students working on this site.I have found, however, some of their
games worth the added vigilance.This site is for elementary age students.

I’d love to hear about your
favorite education game sites if I didn’t include them here!

Larry Ferlazzo teaches at
Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, CA.